Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took the battle to keep Selangor in the Umno-held Malay heartland of Selayang today, telling youths to vote for change in Election 2013.

A 1,000-strong crowd turned up for his visit to Kuang, within the Selayang federal seat helmed by Umno, prompting the opposition leader to proclaim it was a sign of increased support just four days ahead of the May 5 polls.

"If it's like this, the SPR can lie and so can the media.. but the people have risen to back Pakatan Rakyat to form the new government in Putrajaya," he told the predominantly Malay crowd in a packed town hall here. (SPR is the Malay acronym for the Elections Commission)

These final few days of campaigning will be the most critical for Anwar and the PKR-DAP-PAS alliance as the battle for federal power intensifies, making every vote counts especially those from Barisan Nasional (BN) fortress seats such as Kuang, a rural seat located within the Selayang parliamentary district.

Anwar said today's huge turnout indicated a shift in the "political conscience" of the rural Malays who now no longer accept Umno's attempt to veil its corruption through communal politics.

"They always talk about the Malays but it is always the Malay youths who are left with no jobs. If they have a job, their salary will only be RM1,000.

"We must change this," he said to a loud shout of "ubah" or "change", a popular slogan now used as PR's campaign fodder.

In the 2008 elections, PR won 36 of the 56 state seats in Selangor with most coming from urban areas while its rivals Umno, BN's Malay lynchpin, remain indomitable in the rural districts.

The pact's caretaker Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had said he was confident of retaining all the seats it won in the March 8 polls.

PR, however, is aiming big this time around and penetrating the Malay heartland would be crucial to PR's ambition for national power. This, Abdul Khalid said, remains an uphill battle.

"It is a bit difficult but I believe we have made much progress," he told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview recently.

To help PR make inroads into these red areas, PAS had roped in the popular Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib whose long tenure as the state's mentri besar and his charitable leadership had earn him the love and respect from Selangor's rural Malays.

Few of those attending today's ceramah told The Malaysian Insider PR's tactic to ride on the popularity of these leaders have begun to draw more Malays towards the opposition.

"I was never into politics but I wanted to see Anwar. He's got charisma and I think a lot of young people look up to him," said Faisal Mohd Bakri, a 26 year-old Kuang native who now works in the capital as an engineer, told The Malaysian Insider.

Despite his age, Faisal will join some 2.6 million others who will be voting for the first time come May 5. Analysts note that the demographic will be the determinant to the 13th general elections' outcome.

These voters is also crucial for PR to bridge the generational gap in the rural areas as most of their parents tend to be pro-BN while the young are more inclined towards the opposition.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) promised to change civil servants' pay scheme to weekly from monthly when it takes power, potentially giving civil servants an extra four weeks' pay annually, in a move to get votes from the 1.4 million-strong civil service.

De facto PR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim delivered his Labour Day's address here, to greet thousands of supporters at the same ground in Precinct 3 where PAS' spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was given a historic welcome last week.

"Our approach is to give benefits and rewards to defend the fates of workers, equivalent to their sacrifices and work load. This is the principles that is not understood by our friends on the other side," Anwar said to the crowd here who welcomed him with standing ovations and "Reformasi" chants earlier.

PR's pledges for civil servants, called "Declaration of Putrajaya 2013", were delivered to Anwar by its author PAS' Datuk Husam Musa, who is making a bid for the federal administrative capital in the May 5 polls.

Civil servants are also slated to get interest-free home loans for first-time home buyers, and earlier pension age – 45 for women and 50 for men – should PR win Election 2013.

PR also pledged to reduce the promotion period from 15 to 10 years. Workers union will also be allowed, and any political interference in the civil service will be stopped.

Earlier on, Anwar praised the civil service for contributing towards his good record while in the Ministry of Education and the Treasury, but lamented that the workers have been demoted due to political interference and use of foreign consultants.

He also criticised the Public Service Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) which was introduced on January last year. It was scrapped just after two months, after being criticised for only benefiting top government servants while leaving the majority of the civil service with paltry salary hikes.

"This shows the attitude of Umno-BN leaders, they have always sided with the rich people above," said Anwar.

It was revealed last year that under the SBPA, the Chief Secretary would draw a salary of RM60,000 while those in the "Premier Service" category were to rake in RM36,000, a vast difference from those in the lower pay grades, some of whom were only given increments as low as RM1.70.

The then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced that the existing Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM) would be maintained with improvements, where salaries of the Chief Secretary to the Government and top-tier civil servants in the "Premier Service I" (Turus I) category would only be adjusted by seven per cent.

Civil servants in the management and professional groups and Grades 1 to 54, in turn, would see their salaries hiked by 13 per cent across the board.

"I assure you, a PR government will restore people's trust towards the civil service's professionalism and we will reform the service to increase their dignities as competent civil servants," Anwar said to cheers from the crowd.

Malaysia's bureaucracy is powered by some 1.4 million workers. Some 80,000 people live in Putrajaya, with 15,798 of them registered to vote.

On Sunday, Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim has his best – and seemingly last – chance to complete an extraordinary political comeback from beaten-down prisoner to leader of his country.

The 65-year-old former deputy prime minister and finance minister told Reuters in an interview he will step down if his three-party alliance fails to wrest power for the first time from the ruling National Front (BN) coalition in Sunday’s election.

“I’ll have given my best and if the people are not ready for change, it’s better that you have a post-Anwar situation,” he said after a gruelling day of campaigning in Malacca, a BN stronghold.

Anwar is closer to power than at any time since his meteoric career came crashing down in 1998 when he fell out with the then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, his mentor and Malaysia’s longest-serving leader.

His alliance surged to its best-ever election result in 2008, gaining support from ethnic Chinese and Indians disillusioned with race-based policies favouring majority Malays and discontent over a lack of political and economic reform.

The charismatic former rising star of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) party said he was optimistic about going one better this time.

“What is encouraging compared with 2008 is that we have built the momentum rather early this time.

“Normally, you don’t see a crowd like tonight until the end of the campaign trail,” Anwar said as he sat down at a roadside restaurant close to midnight after a long day of campaigning.

Late diners mobbed Anwar for pictures and hand shakes, a reminder of how he remains a popular figure after his tumultuous political career.

‘Premature power play that failed’

Anwar, who had long been tipped to succeed Mahathir, was dismissed in 1998 and charged with sodomy and corruption after he clashed with Mahathir over his handling of the Asian financial crisis that battered Malaysia.

Many saw the events as a premature power play that failed badly for Anwar, who critics say is still motivated by intense personal ambition. However, his arrest sparked street protests calling for “reformasi”, or reform, that still resonate today, especially for a younger generation eager for change.

Images at the time of the goateed, bespectacled Anwar appearing in court with a black eye and bruises sparked international outrage. Only a year earlier,Time magazine had put him on its cover, calling him “The Future of Asia”.

Anwar spent six years in solitary confinement and was forced to sit out Malaysia’s next two elections before returning to parliament in 2008 with a sweeping by-election victory.

Fresh allegations of sodomy then surfaced and many expected Anwar’s political career to end with a guilty verdict in court.

Instead, he was given a new lease on political life when he was acquitted in January 2012 following a trial that gripped the Muslim-majority, multi-ethnic nation of 28 million people.

Anwar has always maintained the charges against him were politically-motivated, a view shared by international human rights groups and a majority of Malaysians in opinion polls.

Fallen heir

Anwar has promoted a rival vision for Malaysia that would abolish or scale back its most authoritarian laws and scrap a system of ethnic preferences for majority Malays.

A magnetic speaker who has cultivated a range of international allies, Anwar rails against the network of patronage that has grown up between Umno and well-connected business people, fostering inefficiency and corruption.

His critics say he is far from clean himself, having long thrived within the very same establishment.

“Malaysia must mature as a democracy. And we must be able to ensure that the (country’s) enormous wealth be well and prudently managed,” Anwar said.

Anwar was born in northern Penang island in 1947, the son of a hospital porter who later became a member of parliament. He attended one of Malaysia’s top schools and made his name as a firebrand Islamic youth leader.

He was jailed for 20 months in 1974 under a sweeping Internal Security Act (ISA) for leading anti-government demonstrations against poverty.

Mahathir invited him to join Umno in 1982 to bridge a gap between the party’s ethnic Malay nationalist image and its rising Islamic aspirations.

He held a string of senior cabinet posts, including the ministries of agriculture and education, and had been finance minister since 1991 when he was sacked.

After his first sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004, Anwar quickly returned to politics as the head of a revitalised, multi-ethnic opposition, centred around Islamists and secular social reformers.

The 2008 election put Anwar’s coalition tantalisingly close to a parliamentary majority, challenging the coalition which has controlled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957.